Around the world, freedom and liberty are under assault. Tyranny is asserting itself. The COVID-19 pandemic has given us lockdowns, vaccine passports, vaccine mandates, and even forced vaccinations and quarantine camps. On January 15th, Canada implemented a vaccine requirement for all truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border. A week later, the U.S. instituted its own vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the Canadian and Mexican borders. The truckers said no.
They formed long convoys to protest the mandates. Day after day, the ranks of the protestors grew until the Freedom Convoy occupied the streets of Ottawa and several major roadways at the Canada-U.S. border. More and more Canadians joined the cause, bringing food, water, fuel, and even bounce houses to show their solidarity with the truckers. However, the national leaders of Canada rejected the Freedom Convoy's peaceful demands for an end to the mandates and a return to freedom and liberty.
On February 4th, GoFundMe took down the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser page. Claiming the effort "reflects or promotes behavior in support of violence," GoFundMe froze the account. At first, they said donors would only see their donations refunded if they specifically requested that the money be returned. Otherwise, it would be forwarded to another cause of GoFundMe's choice. After an immense backlash, they promised to return all funds to those who donated. That remains to be seen.
A few days later, a new fundraising campaign emerged on GiveSendGo. Almost immediately, the government of Ontario ordered GiveSendGo to withhold all donations. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act and seized broad powers in an attempt to shut down the protests. Broadening anti-money laundering rules, he accused crowdfunding sites of financing "terrorism" and authorized financial institutions to "cease providing financial services where the institution suspects an account is being used to further the illegal blockades and occupations." Trudeau and his minions then threatened the protestors with massive fines, impoundment of vehicles, revocation of driver's licenses, and seizure of bank accounts.
Then today, Canada's Justice Minister, David Lemetti, doubled down on Trudeau's threats. When asked if those who donated to the Freedom Convoy should be worried if banks will freeze their accounts, he responded, "Well, I think if you are a member of a pro-Trump movement who's donating hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions of dollars to this kind of thing, they oughta be worried." He then said, "This is about stopping the financing of these illegal blockades. We are today serving notice if your truck is being used in these illegal blockades your corporate accounts will be frozen." The message is clear - criticize Canada's national leaders, and they'll crush you.
Government Demands for Compliance
This is the type of reaction we've come to expect from governments like China, Russia, and North Korea. But the Canadian government's response surprised a lot of people. It shouldn't have. Throughout history, the drive toward tyranny has been the natural inclination of government. Freedom and liberty are the exception, not the norm. In recent years, Canada has shown growing hostility toward free speech. So it shouldn't surprise anyone to see them label peaceful protestors "terrorists" for daring to commit the crime of criticizing government leaders and "undermining trust in government institutions."
Since early 2020, the same totalitarian instinct has invaded other Western Democratic nations. Australia vilified the unvaccinated and put its people in quarantine detention centers. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, and various cities in the United States rolled out vaccine passports. Austria implemented mandatory vaccination. To various degrees, all these governments trampled on individual liberty, demanding compliance to their draconian measures.
The message is clear. Comply or you'll be fined. Comply or you'll lose your job. Comply or you'll lose your benefits. And if you still don't comply, they'll take away your assets and your ability to participate in society.
If we don't stand up to this now, we'll lose our freedom and liberty forever. The marriage of Big Government and Big Tech creates an oppressive combination, and we're only in the early stages. The next government power grab will be the last, and it will lead to total enslavement.
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